Menu

Bob Mong: How Dallas has changed in the last 10 years

A decade after a landmark special report, we revisit how Dallas stacks up with peer cities and take stock of remaining challenges

To our readers:

In 2004, we published a special report concluding that the city of Dallas needed to operate more strategically and do a better job listening to residents.

At the time, we discovered Dallas was not seriously benchmarking itself with other similar cities. Enlightened cities know they can learn from other places, but Dallas had dropped out of this discipline.

Violent crime was among the worst in America. City services were often below par, and residents were leaving for the suburbs in surprisingly high numbers. There were problems with the tax base. There was a shortage of middle-class housing.

Ten years later, we bring readers up to date on how the city is doing.

We focused both reports — 2004 and 2014 — entirely on the Dallas city limits, not the metropolitan area. North Texas is one of the most dynamic regions in the world, and this regional growth and prosperity can mask issues that need addressing in Dallas proper.

What did we find in 2014? Definitely some good news. Commute times are down. The city is a much safer place. Dallas operates more strategically and actively compares itself to its peers. The city polls residents again.

At the same time, many problems linger, and some are worse than in 2004. Poverty has increased, and the city continues to grow both richer and poorer. It also continues to lose jobs to the suburbs. The city remains less educated than its peers. Less than 30 percent of residents 25 and older are college educated. Compare that with Washington, Seattle and San Francisco, which have 50 percent-plus with college educations.

I encourage you to take a look at our findings.

As I said 10 years ago, The Dallas Morning News has been an active part of this community since 1885. We care deeply about the health and well-being of Dallas, and it is from that perspective that we bring you this special report.